We can launch a boat for kayaking in Kamloops Lake at Tobiano and Savona, but we can also hand launch a kayak or canoe at the end of the road to Cooney Bay.    From the parking lot to the muddy shoreline of the river is only about 150 m, but we have to get past high water logs that partly block the trail.    Hauling a 16 foot kayak and gear solo down to the river (and back) is not easy, but it can be done.   The launch is on a muddy bank and much of the river there is shallow with large muddy sandbars.    To get to Cooney Bay, the route/course requires finding the middle channel around the point.   From the area where Tranquille River flows into the bay, it is all clear paddling.   

For this day of paddling the rest of the scenic route was around Cooney Back, past a bluff, along a rocky shoreline and a small point, past Smith Cove and along the cliffs of Battle Bluff.    At the end of Battle Bluff the view extends down Kamloops Lake for 15 km to Six Mile Point.    On the way back it was easy to paddle in a straight line past Cooney Bay.

There were pelicans in two spots on the lake.    Chukar were chattering and swarming on the shoreline.   Seagulls, eagles, mergansers, and loons were hunting in and above the lake.   Trains passed by on both shorelines, including going through the one kilometer tunnel under Battle Bluff.  I landed at the beach in Smith Cove to do a bit of beachcombing.

This is an outing I do every year.    In most years, I try to paddle a route on Kamloops Lake 2 – 3 times.    It is not a good choice on a windy day.    On this day there was little wind and there were no other boats on the east end of the lake.    Shared here is a slideshow album of photos taken while kayaking the lake.   

 

 

To see captions, click on the link for any image to go the Google Photos album.